Kris Dunn: A Bargain For In So Many Ways

Ray GlierContributor SportsMoney Ray Glier has covered Atlanta sports for 28 years

The Atlanta Hawks found the ballhawk they needed in free agency. Kris Dunn shows those defensive ... [+]

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There is nothing vague about what Kris Dunn brings to the Atlanta Hawks. For $5 million a season, the Hawks acquired everything they weren’t in 2019- 2020, which was gritty on defense. The Hawks needed to acquire shooting in free agency, but they also needed a strident defensive stopper, who can ruin the opponent’s offense in the final two minutes with bossiness and ball- hawking. Dunn’s acquisition is as purposeful a rebranding as you will find with a professional sports team.

Just listen to the head coach Lloyd Pierce raise hosannas to the new sheriff in town. “You're going to get that dog, right, you know, you're going to get that competitiveness,” Pierce said of Dunn. “He's going to take the challenge the way you think the challenge should be taken.

“He's that guy. And I think more importantly, our guys know, he's that guy. So there's a tremendous amount of buy in, when I say, ‘Hey, Kris, you got him’, our guys say, ‘Put Kris on him’. That's a statement in and of itself.”

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Dunn and Solomon Hill, a free agent pickup from the Miami Heat, will be lighthouses for Pierce, players who will show the rest of the squad the way on defense. The Hawks were the worst team defensively in the NBA last season and they need a guy to plant the flag, own the turf, and be a badass. If you watched the Hawks on defense the last two seasons it wasn’t that they were always out of position, or didn’t communicate. They didn’t push back with effort.

Dunn pushes back.

“I play ball like I play at the park, I don’t mean no harm by it, if anything I’m trying to motivate my team, trying to get my team’s energy up and I want us to play at a high level and I want us to play hard and I want us to play gritty,” Dunn said. “Coach allows me to do a little bit of that while we’ve been practicing.” MORE FOR YOU

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Imagine Dunn on of the Heat or Fred VanVleet of the Raptors as Atlanta tries to win late. is not going to stop Butler or VanVleet, and neither is Rajon Rondo, who was a free agent pickup. Young was the worst rated point guard defensively in the NBA in 2019-2020 (95th in Defensive Real Plus-Minus). Rondo was better, but not by a lot (78).

Dunn, who is 6-foot-3, was undervalued on the free agent market after the let him walk because of a deficient three-point shot. Of all the Hawks moves in free agency acquiring Dunn is the most under-rated deal because of its economic efficiency and his top-shelf defensive game. The fifth year-guard signed for two years and $10 million.

“We probably got lucky,” said Atlanta General Manager when talking about acquiring Dunn.

Lucky is an understatement if Dunn plays to his mean 2019-20. The 26-year old Dunn was tied for first with the Los Angeles Clippers Patrick Beverly in DRPM last season. He led the NBA in steals per minute, and his 3.1 defensive box plus/minus rating was the best of his career.

There is significantly other value in what Dunn brings because of a pairing with Young. Dunn played on the wing for Chicago in 2019-2020, but he has also played lead guard in the NBA. One of Young’s growth points this season is to move without the ball and become more like Steph Curry, which is to cut and get open, or tilt a defense so it becomes unbalanced. The Hawks now have the lead guard who can allow Young to be a “” and work without the ball and catch-and-shoot. Dunn can also help groom young guard , who can assume the role when Dunn packs up.

So the Hawks not only have a stopper for clutch time, they also have a veteran facilitator.

Here is something else about Dunn’s value. The guy is funny as heck. A lot has been made of Rondo’s veteran presence, but Rondo will have competition for veteran presence in the locker room with Dunn and newly acquired Hill, a 6- foot-6 forward, who is 29 years old.

Dunn is a legendary needler on the court and that motor mouth will be important for the Hawks’ cohesion on defense. The Hawks have said over and over how much better they have to communicate on defense and Dunn talks...and talks and talks.

He was always the kingpin of the team bus rides with his talk and antics.

“In all the years I have been here,” said Arthur Parks, who has worked in the Providence College athletic department for 26 years, “Kris is the best athlete to play here and the funniest. His sense of humor is incredible. Just funny.” Dunn’s humor will keep his teammates loose. His back story will keep them inspired.

The humor is a survival technique from a brutal early childhood. Dunn’s mother was in constant scrapes with the law and he and his brother lived with her in poverty just outside of Washington, D.C.

“You have so much adversity at a young age, there is not too much you can be mad about,” Dunn said. “Not too much to get me down, a happy kid. I like to make people laugh, that’s just who I am.”

When he was healthy at Providence, Dunn took the Friars into the NCAA Tournament. His defense and point guard skills made him the 5th pick overall in the 2016 draft by the . Parks, the Providence SID, said Dunn could have been a first-round NFL draft pick.

Parks, whose own son is a college athlete, insists Dunn can run a 4.2 40-yard dash.

“He should have played football,” Parks said. “He would have been a starting NFL defensive back.”

Dunn chose , and while he likely will not be a starter for the Hawks, he is the stopper they need. He may not be on the court at the start, but there will be games where Dunn will be on the court at the end.